[REVIEW] 3847 Magma Monster

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2
67%
 
Total votes: 3

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legitimatealex
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[REVIEW] 3847 Magma Monster

Post by legitimatealex » Fri Feb 04, 2011 3:18 pm

Indexed

3847 Magma Monster
Price: $15
Pieces: 97
Price Per Piece: $.16
Microfigures: 4
LEGO Description:
Gametime's getting hotter!

Introducing LEGO Games, the world's first collection of games that you build, play and change. With the unique buildable LEGO Dice and changeable rules, LEGO Games is a great way of having fun together with family and friends. Be the first to build a path over the stream of molten lava, so you can battle the monster and take the ancient golden treasure. Block your opponents with the monster or wall of fire and slow them down with a clever bat attack. A game of strategy and luck for all ages for 2 to 4 players. 1 buildable LEGO Dice 4 LEGO microfigures 90 LEGO pieces 1 rule booklet 1 building instruction
This is something like my 6th review of a LEGO game. In general they tend to all be good. This one follows that tendency, despite the high PPP ratio. It's always a bit tricky to review a LEGO game. Not only do you have to assess the pieces included and still analyze the build, but you also have to examine how fun the game actually is to play and properly explain it to your audience. I hope I can convey to you that despite the high price for the pieces, this game is still worth getting.

The Packaging

Normally I would completely skip the packaging on a set. If the packaging is not sub par, it is not worth mentioning. However the LEGO games are an exception. These boxes are meant to store the LEGO game for multiple uses, unlike other sets that are just rip open and throw out (unless you hoard them like I do.)

That being said the Magma Monster packaging is quite nice. It's water resistant packaging that is reinforced and wrapped in a plastic wrap so you can open and reuse it multiple times. The packaging is actually two pieces, wherein the top part of the box slides off vertically.

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The front features two minifigures playing with their microfigures, playing God as we all seem to do with our minifigures.

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And the back features some more features of the game. The back also emphasizes that you can store your game IN the box. This works quite well for the set, although you have to break it down a teeny tiny bit to do so.

The Microfigures

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Much cheaper to make than than a minifigure do to the lack of pose-able parts, the microfigures are a new addition to the LEGO universe with the introduction of the LEGO games. They serve their purpose quite well in my humble opinion. The microfigures have good printing, are made of a sturdy plastic and are easily plucked from a stud and moved to another one. All of these microfigures are miner oriented and most of them bear resemblance to minifigures of yesteryear.

Accessories

There aren't any real 'accessories' so to speak of in this set except the LEGO die, which I have previously commented on in my other LEGO game reviews. It is a nifty piece, with 2x2 studs on each side of the 6 sided die. The die is made up of a soft plastic that is more rubber like than plastic. I now have 8 or 9 of them I think.

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The tiles are easily popped off.

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I'll comment more on the use of the die when I go down to game play.

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Unrelated to the review: I made something out of one of my die! This is NOT INCLUDED in this set. Just showing you that you can make cool cubes out of them... :lol:

The Build

The build for this set is really simplistic, and most of the build for this set actually comes through the game play itself.

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This serves as the base of the game. It is a 16x16 orange baseplate. If I had to peg a selling point for this set, this baseplate would probably be it. I can't recall any other orange baseplates around elsewhere.

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Serving as interchangeable pathways for the game are these 2x1 circular bricks. There are 10 of each color.

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Here is the 'Magma Monster' of the title. He's a rather simple but appealing character to build.

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You can pop off his head to see the torso he rests on. His head is made up of a SNOT brick that has studs on all sides save one. His eye is made up of a hollow stud, an interesting piece that has only been seen in LEGO games so far. I can assure you that they are very useful to have.

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Here is the entire build. As you can see, this set is very sparse on the pieces. The rock formations on the Magma Monster side are just for some decoration. They are some tall sloped brown pieces and that is about all.

Gameplay

So if you recall way way back to the beginning of this review, I noted that much of the build of this set occurs during game play. Well the object of the game is to build a land bridge across the molten magma and defeat the Magma Monster and steal his treasure. While doing so you attempt to block your rival miners while avoiding the feral bats in the cave who can knock you back to the beginning. It's really a vicious game that can go on forever if you play right.

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If you remember the die from the beginning of the review you may have noticed certain colors on each of the six sides. There are 5 different colors on the die and on the 6th side is a multitude of different colors. Each of these colors responds to a different move you can make after you have rolled the die. I'll explain four of the sides of the die now.

If you roll the tan side, you get to put a tan brick down and move as far forward on that tan piece as you can. If you roll a brown or gray side, same situation. If you roll the multicolored side, you can put down whatever brick color you want.

As you can see above, our fellow here has rolled the tan side and put down a tan brick.

You're probably wondering why the different colors of the bricks matter. What does it matter if I put down a gray brick after a tan brick or go tan all the way? Well it's a vital game play mechanic.

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This is a tan brick bridge straight to the Magma Monster. If anyone were to roll a tan side right now, they could take the tan brick bridge straight to the Magma Monster all the way down in one roll. Anyone with a tan side could do this. From that point they would be one more move away from winning the game. Making a straight bridge across is a very risky way to play the game.

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So instead of doing that, it's probably smart to vary up which bricks you put down in a straight line to make sure no one can skip all the way down to the Magma Monster and his treasure.

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If you find yourself on that tan bridge though, and you roll a different color, you can put an adjoining color brick anywhere you want connecting to that bridge and moving as far forward on that color as you can.

You will recall that there were two other colors on that die, black and red. Here is what they do.

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There are two bats featured in this game as well. If a player rolls the black side of the die, they may place a bat on the opposition's microfigure. The microfigure with the bat on it's head must then roll a black, or the multicolored side of the die, in order to take the bat off their head. If they do not, the bat will knock them back to the start of the level, as pictured below.

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This is not a happy microfigure. :cry:

The red side of the die represents a wall of fire. The wall of fire blocks the path of the microfigures. By rolling red, a player may place the wall of fire anywhere on the map where there is not a bridge path built and in any direction. This is useful for blocking a rival pathway or keeping enemy players from taking a convenient path, or forcing them to backtrack, as you can see below.

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The wall of fire makes you one unhappy miner and also makes you rethink quitting that sweet corporate job with the health insurance you had.

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So let's assume that you've finally gotten to the end after all that backstabbing, rogue bats and walls of fire. What now? The Magma Monster, that's what! It's literally the name of the game! So here you are, gray generic miner, at the end of the course facing down the Magma Monster. What do you have to do to come away with that sweet treasure of his glinting at you?

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You have to roll black to win the game. It's a bit anticlimactic, but it serves it's purpose.

If you happen to think that's not challenging or interesting enough, well LEGO might agree with you. LEGO always includes alternative game rules in its instructions, which I would like to add, is very helpful and the rules make the game quite a challenge to win.

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Game play instructions...

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And optional game play instructions!

Here's a quick example of an optional game play rule.


Stacking Bricks

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So let's say you achieve that huge tan land bridge all the way across the board map. How can you make sure that no one can use it to it's fullest potential anymore? Well, stick a brown brick on top of it! Or heck, stick a gray one on top. If you stack bricks, you can further your own ends while interrupting your enemies.

Summary

It's been a nice long review. Here are my final thoughts on the set.

Would I recommend buying this set? It really depends on the person.

If you are looking for a rare orange base plate, go ahead and buy the set. If you are looking for a set filled with a variety of useful pieces, I wouldn't recommend buying it. If you are looking for a great game to play, with lots of different rules to play by, go ahead.

There aren't any rare or interesting pieces in this set outside of the LEGO die and the baseplate, which works against this set, but the game is solid on it's own. You could probably build your own little version of this at home if you wanted to play it.

Go out and get this set.
http://www.eightclickbrick.com/ Find me here on the internet.

Playing with LEGO when I can. Where does the time go?

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